James Simpkins
Encyclopedia
James Nathaniel "Jim" Simpkins (November 26, 1910 – February 1, 2004) was a Winnipeg
born Canadian cartoonist
and artist
. He was one of the original artists for the National Film Board and worked for them for many years before launching a successful freelancing
career. His cartoon character Jasper the Bear was famous throughout Canada from 1948 to 1972 and remains as the mascot of Jasper National Park
.
and began by drawing in his school books. He attended the Winnipeg School of Art and studied under Group of Seven
artist LeMoine Fitzgerald
.
company magazine and submitting cartoons to Macleans. He was drafted into the army in World War II, but was still able to continue to make use of his artistic skills. He was with the Signal Corps
security and intelligence group producing training posters and film strips. He recounted that during this period, on a trip to New York for training with the U.S. Signal Corps, he met Charles Addams
who had just begun to sell cartoons to The New Yorker
. After the war, he became one of the original artists of the National Film Board
in Ottawa where he worked for 16 years.
In 1948 he began a regular cartoon feature for Maclean's magazine, Jasper the Bear, which would prove to be his most famous and enduring creation. In 1955, Simpkins provided the artwork for a 5¢ Canadian stamp which was the idea of Canadian hockey great and member of parliament Lionel Conacher
. The stamp featured three Canadian hockey players in action. On August 6, 1962, while living in Beaconsfield
, Montreal in he began a thrice-weekly cartoon feature for the Montreal Gazette called "Simpkins' Montreal".
He eventually moved to Toronto
where he continued freelancing to the Toronto Star
, ad agencies, book illustration, and numerous magazines in Canada
and the US.
His clients have included General Motors, The National Enquirer and Jaspar the Bear has been used by the Boy Scouts of Canada and Jasper National Park. He had five collections of his cartoons published in book form. Four collections of his Jasper cartoons and also his medical cartoons from the Medical Post
, "When's The Last Time You Cleaned Your Navel?", were published. He also provided the illustrations for other writers' books, most frequently for Canadian humourist Eric Nicol
.
for over 20 years and became extremely popular across Canada. The character first appeared in the Nov. 15, 1948 issue and ran as a regular feature until 1968. It was then syndicated by Canada Wide Features running in newspapers across Canada for four more years until Simpkins retired in 1972. Jasper was also featured in several books.
Simpkins' anthropomorphic Jasper was an urbane, friendly bear with a wife and two cubs. A typical jasper cartoon involved a hibernating Jasper being woken by a golf ball flying into the den and hitting him in the head. Jasper, happily calls out to his sleeping family, "Wake up, everyone. It's spring." On another occasion, Jasper approached a beehive cup in hand saying to the swarm, "Could I borrow a cup of honey?"
In 1962 Jasper was adopted as the official mascot for Jasper National Park
in Alberta erecting a statue of Jasper at the train station where it remains to this day. Jasper cartoons were also reprinted internationally in England, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico. In the 1960s Jasper's copyright was sold to Irwin Toys who produced a line of Jasper toys. In 1968 Jasper was used as the official mascot of the charity The United Appeal
. As part of their fundraising campaign, Jasper visited various locations including Parliament Hill
in Ottawa. This larger-than-life Jasper, a live person in a costume, had his picture taken hugging Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau
.
In 1968 a seven-year-old Ottawa boy was being sent to Boston's Children's Hospital Medical Centre
for corrective heart surgery paid for by private charity. In a gesture of encouragement Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave the boy a picture with the words "A thousand best wishes". It was a picture of the Prime Minister with Jasper the Bear.
In 2004 vandals damaged a statue of Jasper the Bear which had been a local landmark for 40 years, but the statue was replaced and moved to a more secure location. The Mayor of Jasper was quoted as saying that vandalism is not unknown to the area, but until now, "not to poor ol' Jasper". Jasper continues as a promotional tool of Jasper tourism. Having one's picture taken with the statue of Jasper is still a must-have photo when visiting Jasper and, keeping up with the times, Jasper is even on Twitter
.
In 2005, in celebration of Alberta's centennial, a Jasper the Bear coin was issued.
James Simpkins died on Feb 1st 2004 at the age of 93. Canadian cartoonists have argued that Simpkins has failed to fully get the recognition he deserves. For example, despite his major contribution to Maclean's Magazine, they neglected to mention him or Jasper in their anniversary issue.
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
born Canadian cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. He was one of the original artists for the National Film Board and worked for them for many years before launching a successful freelancing
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
career. His cartoon character Jasper the Bear was famous throughout Canada from 1948 to 1972 and remains as the mascot of Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, north of Banff National Park and west of the City of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and...
.
Youth
James Simpkins' father, Arthur, was proofreader for a Winnipeg newspaper and his mother, Mary, looked after the family which included James and his two older brothers. He attended Luxton public schoolLuxton School
Luxton School is a school in Winnipeg, Canada. It is part of the Winnipeg School Division Number One. The school is located on Polson Avenue; It originally opened on May 19, 1907....
and began by drawing in his school books. He attended the Winnipeg School of Art and studied under Group of Seven
Group of Seven
Group of Seven can refer to:*G7 - the "Group of seven" industrially advanced nations .*Group of Seven - a group of Canadian landscape artists....
artist LeMoine Fitzgerald
LeMoine Fitzgerald
Lionel LeMoine Fitzgerald was a Winnipeg-based Canadian painter, and member of the Group of Seven.-Life and work:...
.
Career
His professional life began by contributing to the Hudson's Bay'sHudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
company magazine and submitting cartoons to Macleans. He was drafted into the army in World War II, but was still able to continue to make use of his artistic skills. He was with the Signal Corps
Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals was a corps of the Canadian Army. Major Wallace Bruce Matthews Carruthers established the corps in 1903, making it the first independent Signal Corps in the British Empire...
security and intelligence group producing training posters and film strips. He recounted that during this period, on a trip to New York for training with the U.S. Signal Corps, he met Charles Addams
Charles Addams
Charles "Chas" Samuel Addams was an American cartoonist known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters...
who had just begun to sell cartoons to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. After the war, he became one of the original artists of the National Film Board
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
in Ottawa where he worked for 16 years.
In 1948 he began a regular cartoon feature for Maclean's magazine, Jasper the Bear, which would prove to be his most famous and enduring creation. In 1955, Simpkins provided the artwork for a 5¢ Canadian stamp which was the idea of Canadian hockey great and member of parliament Lionel Conacher
Lionel Conacher
Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP , nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. His first passion was football; he was a member of the 1921 Grey Cup champion Toronto...
. The stamp featured three Canadian hockey players in action. On August 6, 1962, while living in Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield, Quebec
Beaconsfield , 2006 Population 19,194) is a municipality on the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of Lake Saint-Louis and is bordered on the west by Baie-D'Urfé, on the north by Kirkland and on the east by Pointe-Claire...
, Montreal in he began a thrice-weekly cartoon feature for the Montreal Gazette called "Simpkins' Montreal".
He eventually moved to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
where he continued freelancing to the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, ad agencies, book illustration, and numerous magazines in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the US.
His clients have included General Motors, The National Enquirer and Jaspar the Bear has been used by the Boy Scouts of Canada and Jasper National Park. He had five collections of his cartoons published in book form. Four collections of his Jasper cartoons and also his medical cartoons from the Medical Post
Medical Post
The Medical Post is a weekly newspaper aimed at Canadian physicians. In 2007, it reported a circulation of 47,000.-External links:*...
, "When's The Last Time You Cleaned Your Navel?", were published. He also provided the illustrations for other writers' books, most frequently for Canadian humourist Eric Nicol
Eric Nicol
Eric Patrick Nicol was a Canadian writer, best known as a longtime humour columnist for the Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper The Province...
.
Jasper the bear
His most famous creation was the cartoon Jasper the Bear which appeared in Maclean’s magazineMaclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
for over 20 years and became extremely popular across Canada. The character first appeared in the Nov. 15, 1948 issue and ran as a regular feature until 1968. It was then syndicated by Canada Wide Features running in newspapers across Canada for four more years until Simpkins retired in 1972. Jasper was also featured in several books.
Simpkins' anthropomorphic Jasper was an urbane, friendly bear with a wife and two cubs. A typical jasper cartoon involved a hibernating Jasper being woken by a golf ball flying into the den and hitting him in the head. Jasper, happily calls out to his sleeping family, "Wake up, everyone. It's spring." On another occasion, Jasper approached a beehive cup in hand saying to the swarm, "Could I borrow a cup of honey?"
In 1962 Jasper was adopted as the official mascot for Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 10,878 km² . It is located in the province of Alberta, north of Banff National Park and west of the City of Edmonton. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and...
in Alberta erecting a statue of Jasper at the train station where it remains to this day. Jasper cartoons were also reprinted internationally in England, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico. In the 1960s Jasper's copyright was sold to Irwin Toys who produced a line of Jasper toys. In 1968 Jasper was used as the official mascot of the charity The United Appeal
United Way of Canada
United Way of Canada is the national organization for the 117 autonomous, volunteer-based United Ways across Canada. United Way campaigns raise money for local groups that address community issues and problems, and the national organization provides leadership, services and coordination to the...
. As part of their fundraising campaign, Jasper visited various locations including Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
in Ottawa. This larger-than-life Jasper, a live person in a costume, had his picture taken hugging Canadian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
.
In 1968 a seven-year-old Ottawa boy was being sent to Boston's Children's Hospital Medical Centre
Children's Hospital Boston
Children's Hospital Boston is a 396-licensed bed children's hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area of Boston, Massachusetts.At 300 Longwood Avenue, Children's is adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical School, and to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...
for corrective heart surgery paid for by private charity. In a gesture of encouragement Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave the boy a picture with the words "A thousand best wishes". It was a picture of the Prime Minister with Jasper the Bear.
In 2004 vandals damaged a statue of Jasper the Bear which had been a local landmark for 40 years, but the statue was replaced and moved to a more secure location. The Mayor of Jasper was quoted as saying that vandalism is not unknown to the area, but until now, "not to poor ol' Jasper". Jasper continues as a promotional tool of Jasper tourism. Having one's picture taken with the statue of Jasper is still a must-have photo when visiting Jasper and, keeping up with the times, Jasper is even on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
In 2005, in celebration of Alberta's centennial, a Jasper the Bear coin was issued.
Personal life
James Simpkins was married to Ethel Mary Thom who died in 2001. They had five children and at the time of his death he had ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.James Simpkins died on Feb 1st 2004 at the age of 93. Canadian cartoonists have argued that Simpkins has failed to fully get the recognition he deserves. For example, despite his major contribution to Maclean's Magazine, they neglected to mention him or Jasper in their anniversary issue.
External links
- Canadian Encyclopedia article
- Jasper in Edmonton Journal comic section
- Jasper Tourism Youtube video featuring Jasper The Bear "Where's Jasper" Episode 1
- Jasper Tourism Youtube video featuring Jasper The Bear "Where's Jasper" Episode 2